Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The Safety of Landlines(!!???)

USA Today, the leader in front page sound-bite polls, had one out yesterday on why people don’t give up their home landlines in favor of cellular phones. 26% of people are keeping their landline for safety, 20% needed it for internet access. Poor cell phone reception and sound quality or were, amazingly, at the bottom of the list, 7% and 6% respectively.

For the record, I gave up my landline a few months ago. This winter’s rains were the last straw. After two weeks of phone outage and two technician visits (with a four-hour home wait each time) I called up Cingular and asked to transfer my home number to a $9.99/month cell phone. I added it to my wireless family plan. No long distance charges, built-in voice mail, unlimited night and weekend minutes, all other minutes are lumped with the rest of my plan. Plus, cell phones are smaller and much more full-featured than traditional phones. And to make sure I don’t lose my home cell, it’s permanently plugged into its charger.

Now let’s assume, for purposes of discussion, that USA Today’s statistics are correct. Why in the world would safety be the number one reason that people keep their landline? When was the last time your cell phone service went completely dead? How long did it take to fix? Can a thief or intruder cut your cell phone line like they can cut a landline? Of course not. Cell phones are so much safer than land lines…

So for those 26% among you that keep their landlines for safety – don’t. They’re not safer. It’s time to switch. For the 20% that need it for internet access – well, my sympathies. I assume you’re using DSL, and DSL may be the best thing that ever happened to the landline phone companies. If you’re using dial-up, it’s time to get broadband… For those with poor cell phone reception, how about switching cell phone providers…

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